Required Texts

James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 4th edition.

Akram Fouad Khater, Sources in the History of the Modern Middle East (Boston: Wadsworth, 2011), 2nd edition.

Welcome to Professor Williams' Course

History of the Middle East and Islamic World

This introductory level course will examine the political, economic and social transformations that have characterized the history of the Middle East with a focus on the mid-eighteenth century to the present.

The course’s topics will include: the emergence of Islam and the rise of Islamic empires, the political evolution of the region from empires into nation-states, the impacts of European imperialism and capitalist expansion on local economies and societies, and the ideological, social and cultural shifts that accompanied these political developments.